ATP Masters in Miami, 2nd round, Friday, 24/03/2023
He gets better and better! Germany’s number 1, Alexander Zverev, has set himself a lot of goals for 2023 and has already been able to realise some of them. Now he will compete at the Masters in Miami, where his ambitions are also high.
After a walk-through at the start, he will face a Japanese player on Friday who has caused a sensation in recent weeks with victories over the big names. Although Taro Daniel is the clear underdog at Bet3000 with odds of around 4.90, I will now reveal in my Daniel Zverev tip why I have a close match in mind!
Alexander Zverev is making steady progress, after his long injury he is taking the small progress seriously and has been rewarded for it again and again lately. He left Dubai a few weeks ago quite satisfied.
He fought his way to the semi-finals, where he was narrowly defeated by Andrey Rublev. The Olympic champion managed to take exactly this form with him to the USA and thrill the spectators in Indian Wells.
After eliminating Pedro Cachin and Emil Ruusuvuori, he faced Daniil Medvedev. A match in which both strengths and weaknesses were on display and Zverev could not have been eliminated more bitterly.
7-6, 6-7, 5-7, after more than three hours of play, the Hamburg native had to leave the court as the loser. He has himself to blame a little for the defeat, because he could only take TWO of 17 break chances!
In some moments it seems as if Zverev has never been out of the world top, then again too easy mistakes creep in and Zverev loses concentration and consistency.
Now it’s time to learn from the problems of Indian Wells in Miami. Last year he lost to Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals, but before that he had twice failed to clear the opening hurdle.
However, Miami has been a good place before. Five years ago, Zverev played a great final against John Isner as a 20-year-old, which ended most unhappily at 7-6, 4-6, 4-6.
Now he is facing Taro Daniel for the first time ever. Our bettors think that nothing can really go wrong on Friday, at least that’s what the average odds of 1.15 to 4.90 suggest.
His 30-year-old opponent is number 97 in the world rankings and should really have no chance against Zverev. He has never made it past the 2nd round in Miami, last year he narrowly lost 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 to Fabio Fognini here.
This year’s opening match was wrapped up in no time, as his opponent Arthur Rinderknecht retired injured at 4-1. With Taro Daniel, however, we clearly have to look at the last few tournaments.
In Indian Wells, he had survived the qualification and celebrated a sensational 7-6, 0-6, 6-3 against Matteo Berrettini in the 2nd round. Only against Cameron Norrie was the end of the line, but the 7-5, 5-7, 2-6 was not that bad!
Daniel also attracted attention in Acapulco. In the round of 16, he surprisingly beat Casper Ruud, but was eliminated by Alex de Minaur a little later. So it seems that the form is right!
My Daniel Zverev Tip
A knockout in Miami’s opener is certainly not in the script for Alexander Zverev, but is he really that stable to avoid early defeats? Admittedly, the performances at Indian Wells and Dubai were a big step in the right direction.
Taro Daniel has made a name for himself with us in recent weeks. If you beat opponents like Matteo Berrettini or Casper Ruud, you can also prevail against an Alexander Zverev, especially if he is not yet in rhythm.
Therefore, I trust the supposed underdog to play a very even match, even a set win is possible in my eyes. Therefore, I decide to recommend the following bet:
Daniel and Zverev play more than 21.5 games!
